By Emilie El Khoury, Queen’s University, Ontario | – The devastating war in Gaza is now in its sixth month, and the figures are alarming: more than 33,000 Palestinians have been killed. Almost one-third of the population is suffering catastrophic food insecurity and over two million (almost the entire population) have been displaced. More than […]
Countries like Australia are Floating the idea of Recognizing Palestine to push Peace
Michelle Grattan, University of Canberra | – Foreign Minister Penny Wong has taken Australian policy a modest step towards embracing recognition of a Palestine state ahead of a two-state solution, as a pathway to a lasting Middle East peace. In a Tuesday speech to an Australian National University national security conference dinner, Wong said the […]
A “Herculean” Task: Can Gaza ever be Rebuilt?
By Dima Nazzal, Georgia Institute of Technology | – Over a decade ago, a United Nations report described the Gaza Strip as virtually unlivable, adding that it would require “Herculean efforts” to change that. Today, after six months of bombardment, mass displacement and siege by Israel, the task of rebuilding Gaza seems practically unimaginable. I’m […]
80% of All Fossil Fuel and Cement C02 Emissions since 2016 produced by 57 Companies and Countries
By Matthew Carl Ives, University of Oxford; Belinda Wade, The University of Queensland; and Saphira Rekker, The University of Queensland | – Just 57 companies and nation states were responsible for generating 80% of the world’s CO₂ emissions from fossil fuels and cement over the last seven years, according to a new report released by […]
Why Countries selling Israel Weapons for Gaza Campaign are Violating International Law
By Lawrence Hill-Cawthorne, University of Bristol | – The UK government has received internal legal advice that Israel has broken international humanitarian law in its current war on Gaza. The advice was revealed by Alicia Kearns, the Conservative chair of the House of Commons foreign affairs select committee, in a speech to a fundraising event […]
Iran-US secret Backchannel Talks Suggest that for Both Sides Pragmatism beats Ideology
By Shabnam Holliday, University of Plymouth | – (The Conversation) – Recent revelations that the Islamic Republic of Iran and the US have held secret talks as a way of resolving months of attacks by Tehran-backed Houthi rebels on shipping in the Red Sea have raised eyebrows. Surely the two countries have been implacable foes […]
Erdoğan’s streak came to a screeching Halt as Turkey’s economy pays the price for Years of Policy Mistakes
By Gulcin Ozkan, King’s College London | – (The Conversation) – For many years, it wasn’t the economy that determined voting behaviour in Turkey. The country’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, won almost every election he contested despite a deteriorating economic outlook. This is commonly explained by the importance of identity politics in a country that […]
Israel’s ‘Iron Wall:’ A Brief History of the Ideology Guiding Benjamin Netanyahu
By Eran Kaplan, San Francisco State University | – (The Conversation) – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has signaled that Israel’s military will soon launch an invasion of Rafah, the city in the southern Gaza Strip. More than 1 million Palestinians, now on the verge of famine, have sought refuge there from their bombed-out cities farther […]
Does the Destruction of Homes in Gaza constitute Genocide?
By Priya Gupta, McGill University | – (The Conversation) – The intentional destruction of homes — by a government or private entity, during war or peacetime, on an individual or communal basis — is referred to as “domicide” by scholars and by Balakrishnan Rajagopal, the United Nations’ Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing. […]